Chiron and Achilles 1921

John Singer Sargent conjured this classical scene of Chiron and Achilles in paint, at an unknown date. The muted palette, all creams and browns, with the deep blue background, gives it a slightly eerie, dreamlike quality. I love how Sargent uses thin washes of color. You can see the layers building up, especially in the clouds and the figures’ bodies. It’s like he’s revealing the process, not trying to hide it. Look at the centaur’s torso: those soft gradations create form, but also keep it translucent. You can almost see through it. The eagle, up there in the corner, it's like a flash of energy, wings spread wide, full of purpose, heading somewhere in a hurry. This reminds me a little of Puvis de Chavannes – that same sense of timelessness. But where Puvis is stoic, Sargent feels charged with a restless energy. In the end, art’s not about answers. It’s about the questions we keep asking, and how we keep answering them, differently, each time.